mj^msmmm 



i''£:y 



t-:K 



«r^-«-x 









''^^^^i.^:! 



^mm 






^^^'"'^^r 



n^fk^riik»:^^^'^W 



;'^^>-^':3„.v 



^•-.^^^^^^iS^^S^ 



':?J 


^ 


* 








S^^.^.' 


i^: 


i 


i7T» /_ -/.jJgjJJS 


l.i*S)«'*fe->$ 


^^ 



M, 



# LIBRARY OF (CONGRESS, i 






# ^ 

P 

t UNITED 8TATKS OF AMERICA, i 

w w 




^ ' ^ / 



AUSTRIA AND ITS POLITY: 



% "^tcinxt, 



DELIVERED AT ASTORIA, NY. 



O" «, XX ix a, r y 21ist^ 18S3 



ROBERT ^DODGE 




^-^ — ^ 



NEW YORK: 
WM. C. BRYANT & CO., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU ST., COR. LIBERTY. 

1853. 






,^«m» \\ * y- • ^ v^* ««' 



A'.. 






A LECTURE. 



We have named, as the subject for our interview, some recollections of 
Austria. And before proceeding to speak of the Imperial Royal Empire, 
let me ask your judgment to reheve your minds from the cloud of prejudice 
which numerous ill-considered censures have cast upon this Empire. Its 
system of isolation has almost placed its internal policy in Chinese obscu- 
rity ; but latterly, more intimate intercourse has shown us that though its 
whole system is opposed to constitutional freedom and enhghtened liberty, 
still, there are few despotisms with more contented and industrious subjects, 
and no absolute governments in Europe more open to the wishes, and more 
conducive to the material well-being of its subjects. A recent State paper 
— memorable for many reasons, if not for diplomatic propriety, has asserted, 
in comparing the extent of the Austrian Empire with that of the United 
States, that the possessions of the House of Hapsburgh are " but a patch 
on the earth's surface ;" — this might be hterally true, and still, ancient 
populous Austria be no mean power on the earth. Without pursuing this 
unnecessary boast, which in sound reason has but little force, let us reverse 
the glass, and endeavor to look at this empire in its true extent. In 
■ conversing upon such a subject with brother freemen, born with recognized 
rights and liberties, we feel a pleasure mingled with regret ; and we can 
only by a strong effort, clear our minds from the influence of feeling and 
tradition for dispassionate contemplation. Let us rejoice that we are not 
born subjects of emperors and kings, whom, in their own language, " alone, 
God has made responsible for power ;" and while we repose in security 
under the folds of that meteor-flag of our fathers, let us not forget that 
time, education, long custom, and prejudice, have made their yoke easy, 
and their burthen light ; so that few people excel the Austrians in grate- 
ful fidelity to their monarchs, and patriotic attachment to their country and 
its institutions. 

This empire, which in its grand proportions and teeming millions, rises 
up as the eastern frontier of Europe, is a federation of kingdoms, whose 
title is the Imperial and Royal States of Austria, under one common head — 
the Royal Emperor — whose court is at his imperial and royal city of 
Vienna, with a sway extending over a greater variety of people and lan- 
guages, than, with the exception of the Czar of Russia, or the Chinese 



Emperor, that of any other monarch of the world. Its aggregate of " men 
in nations," presents a population of about forty millions, over an area of 
two hundred and fifty thousand square miles. Its name, Austria — has 
sometimes been derived from tLe barbarous tribes of the Avars — who held 
their ground on the Danube against the Roman legions, and were only 
subdued by Charlemagne in the eighth century ; but it is equally probable 
that the name is derived from the German " Oesterreich," or the Latin 
" Auster," the kingdom of the East or South ; given to it on the conquest 
by Charlemagne, and his successors ; and by which name it first appeared 
in the world of kingdoms in the year 996, under the title of "Margraviate 
of Austria ;" being the present hereditary archduchy of Austria, of which 
Vienna is the capital and centre. " Suabian and Bavarian families who 
" colonized the country, introduced the first germs of civiUzation, and the 
" territory, though limited in extent, (scarce one hundred miles in length 
" along the Danube,) formed the nucleus, around which, during the lapse 
" of centuries, there have been gathered sixteen great states, besides nume- 
" rous small principalities, inhabited by four of the seven different races 
" of Europe, among whom are spoken twelve distinct languages, and count- 
" less dialects, and between whom the only bond of union has been the 
" sway of a common sovereign." What were the different countries that 
formed this empire, the period, and manner of their acquisition, in the brief 
hmits of a lecture, I can hardly be expected fully to describe. But in 
order to afford a summary view it is convenient to divide its history 
by that great modern era — the Congress of Vienna — that august gather- 
ing of kings in 1814 and the following years ; whose influence upon Aus- 
tria and upon Europe seems immortal. With a few words on its prior 
history, we will turn to the conventions of those memorable congresses, as 
its outline of modern history and the sources of the strength of many of its 
institutions. 

The federative empire, is composed of the kingdoms of Bohemia, Mora- 
via, Silesia, Galicia and Lodomeria, the Archduchy of Austria, the Tyrol, 
Styria, Carniola and Carinthia, the Province of Trieste and Dalmatia ; the 
kingdom of Lombardy and Venice, Hungary, Slavonia, Croatia and Tran- 
sylvania, and the military frontier along the boundaries of Turkey ; whose 
population are respectively Slavi, Germans, Jews, Zincali or Gipsey, Walla- 
chians, Moldavians, Magyai-s, Greeks, Slovacks, Croats, Bulgarians and 
Italians. This extraordinary combination of tongues, and people, is the re- 
sult of a series of purchases by treaty, or conquest, and fortunate marriage 
alliances, commencing with the acquisition of Styria in the twelfth century. 
The emperors of the house of Hapsburg, the reigning dynasty, were em- 
perors of Germany from the year 1438, the date of the election of Albert 
the Fifth, Margrave of Austria to the German throne ; and so continued 



till 1806, wlien, upon the creation of the "Confederation of the Rhine" by 
Napoleon, the German empire was dissolved, to revive for a brief period 
within the last five years. Austria, then, laying aside the Germanic title, 
assumed the Imperial Crown of Austria, and Francis the Second of Ger- 
many became Francis the First, Emperor of Austria. The various nations 
under its sway are the subsiding elements of the warlike tribes, who 
assailed the majesty of Rome in the days of the later CiBsars. The Slavi 
claim never to have been subdued ; the Wallachians call themselves and 
their language Romani, claiming to be descendants of the Legionaries of 
Trajan ; the Magyars are a Tartar tribe driven from their Asiatic homes 
beyond the Ural mountains, who, under Arpad as their leader, conquered 
the Huns, the native inhabitants of Hungary, in 889 ; and the Bohemians 
or Czecks are also an Asiatic tribe. It would be tedious to repeat or con- 
jecture the origins of all ; suffice it to say that the Slavi, whose name is 
said to signify " the glorious," are the most numerous ; that though the 
laws are in German, they are published in their respective governments in 
each of their peculiar languages, and to whose list, we may add, that the 
language of the Diet, the laws and courts of Hungary and Transylvania 
was until very recently the Latin. There is no language common to all 
the people ; and fellow subjects of Austria cannot comprehend one another's 
speech, or the German language of the laws, or edicts of their common 
sovereign ; whilst their respective tongues are each complete in themselves 
and many of them, with their innumerable dialects, sound to the English 
ear as remote from comprehension as the Chinese. Each of these several 
kingdoms or governments of the empire has its own peculiar constitution 
and crown, its representative Assembly and immemorial prescriptive rights, 
its recognized frontiers, imposts, and custom houses ; all of which, with 
some few exceptions were reserved, as each in turn became incorporated 
into the empire ; and have ever since been to some extent maintained. 
The sovereign of this united empire is crowned, and takes a coronation oath 
in each of these kingdoms, to support its laws, customs, and constitutional 
rights ; is thenceforth recognized as king of Bohemia, or of Huno-ary, 
Galicia, Lombardy, &c. &c. ; and is represented in his respective kingdoms 
and principalities, by governors ; in Hungary by the Prince Palatine, and 
in Croatia by the Ban or Duke, who open the Diet with annual messages 
or rescripts from the Emperor, and by whom all laws passed are transmitted 
to Vienna, for approval before enactment, and who, in behalf of the sove- 
reign, ask the deputies for supplies. These Diets are composed of two or 
more Chambei-s, of the clergy, the commons, and the nobles ; have liberty 
of debate and the exclusive power of taxation. Springing from the demo- 
cratic assemblies of the barbarous tribes of their ancestors, which are 
familiar to the readers of Tacitus, they have from that remote period, sub- 



6 



sisted with little cliange until the present day. The power of the emperor 
depends on his popularity ; which can only be preserved, by avoiding any 
encroachments on the privileges of these Diets, or his subjects ; and the in- 
tegrity of his mosaic work of an empire can only be maintained by consura. 
mate skill in his ministers and governors. The policy usually adopted for 
conducting this heterogeneous State, has been to "divide and conquer." 
" Divide et impera,''^ or to excite and wield one nationality against another, 
in war, and emulation in time of peace. But the chief concerns, the whole 
business of the general Government, is centralized in Vienna ; and nothing 
of moment transpires in the remotest province, but is at once communicated 
and responded to, from the imperial bureaus at the capital, with the per- 
sonal knowledge and sanction of the emperor. Although the crown holds 
the initiative in all legislation, and the edicts and rescripts of the emperor 
are universal in their power, still the form of its government cannot pro- 
perly be called absolute, as compared with that of Russia. It is in form 
a constitutional empire, whose administration, although strict, is benignant, 
j^et fi'om the shadows of the sceptre, its vast standing army and police, its 
secret bureau centralization, and the doctrines of the civil law, it has become 
measurably despotic. Its right ami is the standing army ; which on a 
peace establishment numbers five hundred and fifty thousand, and in 1848, 
during the revolutionary period, was increased to seven hundred and fifty 
thousand njen ; to which must be added the 30,000 men of the coast- 
guard of the Danube, military tenants of the empire ; who hold their lands 
by Adrtue of rendering military service every season by divisions, in main- 
taining custom-house regulations on the frontier, a cordon sanitaire against 
the introduction of the plague, or worse enemies from the East, and form a 
highly trained and efficient militia reserve. The soldiers stationed through- 
out the empire also perform the functions of police ; they are always 
posted among a people of a different language, and are moved often to 
prevent fraternization ; yet from the nature of the materials of the empire, 
it can scarcely ever become formidable as a military aggressor, its force 
being always required within its own limits. The valor of this army was 
signalized in 1809, when, under the Archduke Charles, at Aspern, they 
defeated Napoleon and his hitherto invincible hosts, and at Wagrara 
yielded only after severe fighting to immense superiority of numbers. 

Austria was at the summit of its power when, in 1814, it invited all 
the allied sovereigns of Europe to confer at its beautiful capital ; which 
then witnessed a display of imperial and regal splendor seldom equalled. 
The self-styled " Man of Destiny," before this congress convened, had been 
immured in rocky Elba ; the smoke of his battle-fields was rising, and roll- 
ing away ; agitated empires, once struggling for existence, now united to 
obliterate all trace of him, whom they called an usurper — to re-establish 



the ancient order of things — to hang their kingdoms in a delicate balance 
of power, and by severe conventions to abolish forever the results of French 
propagandisra, by sword or speech on their awakened subjects. The mon- 
archs of the continent and the Enghsh sovereign with them, then felt the 
thorny pressure of liberty from among* the people, and united boldly and 
unanimously to forge new fetters for the hearts and minds of their subjects. 
This Congress, at Vienna in October, 1814, continued with interruptions till 
1815, and succeeded by those of Aix La Chapellc, Carlsbad, Troppau, 
Laybach, and Verona, in 1822, were together productive of most enduring 
political results. So far as they have moulded the progress and institu- 
tions of the Austrian empire is our present concern. 

The origin of these congresses, and their measures, is found in the cele- 
brated agreement, called the " Holy AUiance," proposed in 1815, after 
Napolean's defeat at Waterloo, by the Emperor Alexander of Russia, and 
then signed and concluded by him, the Emperor Francis of Austria and 
Frederick William, king of Prussia. Its language is most innocent 
of political evil : consisting merely of a declaration that the subscribing 
sovereigns bound themselves thereby together, to conduct their respective 
governments, in their internal and foreign ajffairs, in accordance with the 
precepts of the gospel, the principles of justice, charity and peace, and the 
happiness and religious welfare of their subjects. Through this seemingly 
harmless paper only considered binding on the subscribers personally, in 
opening the way for closer alliances and interpreted by the theories of 
divine right and legitimacy, " Sophistry lent her colors to the most extrava- 
gant pretensions of tyranny." England, and France under the Bourbons, 
united in this unholy alliance ; and this lying pretext for oppression, con- 
vened monarchs in repeated conferences for eight successive years, to bind 
their thrones together, in violation of its letter and spirit, and every right 
of the subject. The chief results of this diplomacy were a rigorous censor- 
ship of the press, increased surveillance of police, secret and public, the 
right of armed intervention, by any member of this alliance to restore tran- 
quillity in the dominions of another sovereign irrespective of the causes of 
disturbance, a reorganization of the Austrian empire, on these principles 
of absolutism, the acquisition by Austria of the Lombardo- Venetian king- 
dom (thereby becoming mistress of the Adriatic,) in exchange for the 
kingdom of the Netherlands — the subjugation of Poland — a political code 
for the Germanic confederation, and a general settlement of the boundaries 
of their respective territories which had been trampled down by the victo- 
rious Corsican. Austria, in the person of Prince Metternich, always pre- 
sided, and was the ruling spiiit of these congresses. The sovereigns of 
Germany at the first of these conferences had promised that in all the 
states of the confederation, there should be given a representative constitu- 



8 

tion. This promise, which excited the wildest republican fervor among the 
masses, was utterly violated by Austria, Prussia and Russia, and but slowly 
and imperfectly fulfilled by some of the smaller powers of the Germanic 
states. The result of this bad faith was the settled discontent of the peo- 
ple, their secret political associations against tyranny, which, among the 
Carbonarii, offered so many victims to the dungeon, or scaffold, and have 
ever since kept the popular mind ready for sanguinary revolution at the 
first stroke of the tocsin from either of the great European capitals. The 
sovereigns claiming legitimate and absolute power by divine right, severed 
their thrones from the affection of their subjects, and substituted mutual 
fear and distrust, confiding their safety to standing armies; and their 
deceived and o^Dpressed subjects in 1830 and 1848, reared the bloody 
barricades, to avenge their wrongs and retrieve their natural rights. 
England, during the ministry of Canning in 1822, withdrew from this 
alliance of iniquity ; the Pope of Rome never acceded to it ; but the 
other sovereigns have always recognized its obligations and acted 
upon its principles; and when in 1825 Spain invoked the aid of con- 
federate Europe to reconquer the revolted South American Colonies which 
she was too weak to retain, all true-hearted Americans must rejoice in the 
vigorous denunciation by the message of President Munroe, of their unholy 
union, forbidding, by threat of the whole military power of this continent, 
the first foot-fall of European intervention in America. The convention of 
the Congress held at Laybach in 1821, attains the bad eminence of having 
first published and authoritatively settled as a part of the continental law of 
nations, the right and obligation , of armed intervention, by any one of 
these allied powers at the request of another, to restore the internal tran- 
quillity of their respective dominions, whether disturbed by prince or 
people ; to suppress all popular tumult and outbreak without regard to the 
rights of the people — those despised pawns of this political chess board — 
and who, by the language and conduct of their autocrats, possess no rights 
whatever save such as may be granted from the gracious favor of 
monarchs who presumptuously invoke a mission from heaven to work their 
own pleasure on the bodies and souls of their fellow-men. From this last 
convention grew thewarof the Bourbons against Spain, and among other ini- 
quities the recent intervention of Russia for the destruction of the indepen- 
dence of Hungary, the French seige and armed occupation of Rome, the 
wars of Greece, the subjugation of Poland, and the recent rumored conven- 
tion between Austria, Russia and Prussia, to support the claim of legitimate 
rio-ht to the French throne, of Count Chambord, against the French Emperoi". 
From this epoch Austria became avowedly absolute in its government ; with 
Metternich, who has devoted his long life of more than eighty years to these 



principles — and the ruling spirit of these Congresses, as its head, linked 
closely with Prussia and Russia, it pursues the career of systematic despotism, 
as stringently as either of its allies, although with a far different and perhaps 
milder application, arising from the character of its subjects and its local 
position and circumstances. The late Emperor Ferdinand suddenly broke 
through this system in 1848, by granting a constitution of the most liberal 
character ; perhaps from alarm at the universal revolutionary outbreak of 
the nations of the continent ; but this change was but momentary. When 
the revolution in Hungary was crushed, the Bohemian insurrection quelled, 
and the military power of his throne once more established, his young 
nephew and successor the present emperor, Franz Joseph, following the 
old counsellors, and relying on the apparent tranquillity of the empire, by 
a stroke of the pen abolished this specious frame work, and reserved to the 
throne the supreme and entire control of the civil rights of Austrians. 
Practically, government in Austria is notp a most elaborately detailed abso- 
lutism, which without openly violating the ancient treaties and conventions 
between the emperor and his confederate states, still, by a systematic 
interpretation, skilful practical diplomacy, educational systems, spies, 
police, armies and censorship, moulds and wields this heterogeneous mass, 
in harmonious subjection to the single will of the emperor, expressed 
through his bureaus at Vienna, in centralized supremacy ; — in complacent 
theory, and to some extent, in practice, a modern representative of the 
empire of the Roman Coesars. To gain a fuller view of the Austrian 
government, it is essential that I should venture a few details on these va- 
rious forms of application of its leading principle of centralized absolutism ; 
without it, the imperfections of our otherwise inadequate sketch would be 
more apparent, although this subject, like most others, cannot without much 
abridgement be condensed into a single lecture. Of these branches of its 
administration I have already mentioned its immense standing army, ever 
ready to march against the foreign or domestic enemy ; the other leading 
features are the censorship, the espionage and police, the examination of 
letters deposited in the Post Office, the passport system of the strictest 
character, the peculiar universal educational system, governmental trade 
monopolies, p)Oioer of the Church, and last, as combining, governing, and 
pervading all the rest, the bureaucratic system, centered at Vienna, to 
which all else ministers employment, office, power and supply. The cen- 
sorship, long recognized as a power of the Church of Rome, was, from an 
early period in Austria, exercised by its prelates as an ecclesiastical 
sanction, and by the Congress of Cailsbad in 1819 was made an essential 
condition of the alHance of the confederating sovereigns. A Board of 
Twelve Censors, is established at Vienna, to whom every book, newspaper 
and printed page, either imported or printed in the empire, whether origi- 
2 



10 



nal or reprinted, with the maniiscrii^t of every article and advertisement 
intended for the press, is required by law to be submitted. These 
censors are guided by strict and minute regulations ; and politics, 
even to the most obscure allusions, are rigorously expunged. One illus- 
tration may be better than a description. At the Legation of the United 
States at Vienna, then conducted with eminent courtesy and ability, 
by our excellent Charge, the Hon. William H. Stiles, (whose recent 
work on Austria in 1848 and 49 is altogether the ablest exposition of 
the empire in our language, and for some of whose views I am indebted) — 
I had tlie pleasure of meeting a fellow countryman, who had been some- 
time a resident iu Vienna ; in the course of conversation, I naturally spoke 
of that great rarity to us, after leaving Paris — an American newspaper — 
fresh from home, teeming with its news of the whole world, and the poli- 
tics and busy interests of our native land. He informed me, that before 
leaving the United States, he had subscribed for the ^"ew York Herald to 
be delivered to him at his address in Vienna : but that, like all other print- 
ed matter, it passed into the Censor's hands, and at periods varying from 
three to six months, after its arrival, all the numbers received, would be 
enclosed to him, with every hne, paragraph, and even advertisement, 
which alluded to republicanism, the progress of freedom, or any description 
of Austria — diligently cut out, and the meager, harmless skeletons regu- 
larly delivered to him. The results of such a system — in producing a 
political desert — an extinction of all national literature, newspapers and 
freedom of mind, — are too obvious to need remark. 

The next element of this despotism Ave may name is the system 
of espionage and police. The army we have said is the uniformed 
and public police ; but the far more efficient engine of power is the 
secret police — the spy — who for the bribes of government lurks in 
darkness to stab the bosom that trusts its confidence ; who is ever 
to be found in the social circle, the cafes, and public gatherings of every 
nature ; records every whisper of disaffection — treasuring up every murmur 
and unguarded expression, tracking Lis victim to the household hearth, 
nay to the domestic sanctuaiy ; reports his every movement, and leads him 
forward by pretended sympathy to some more open acts or words, until 
the gend'armes seize him, and after a secret examination hurry him for 
long years, or life, to the dungeons of some gloomy fortress, or the scaffold. 
For this atrocious service, the wife, the child, the brother, the partner and 
the domestic servant are often employed : the eye of the government is thus 
upon the minutest actions of its subjects, and no place is sacred from its 
intrusion. These secret agents of the police are instructed in every form 
of disguise, of dress, manner and actions ; their inquisitors' craft hovers 
about every circle, plying every avenue to confession, under every form of 



11 

address ; aud what is remarkable, tliey pursue their infamous trade for 
very small remuneration. In connection with this branch of the j^olice 
censorship, and under this head, naturally comes the system of the exami- 
nation of letters in the post-office. All letters received by the mails of 
Austria, are opened, read and copied by the censors of the post-office ; and 
if objectionable, are destroyed, and the intended recipient handed over to 
the tender mercies of the police, or with passages obliterated by chemical 
agents are re-sealed and delivered to their address. A waxen seal is perfectly 
counterfeited by their art, and made capable of a renewed impression ; wafers 
yield at once to a current of steam, and nothing prevents their vigilance. 
Diplomatic correspondence, in sacred immunity elsewhere, is, if not sent by 
courier, diligently opened and copied, and their ciphers unravelled. It is said 
that the Emperor Francis regularly occupied his morning hours in the perusal 
of the copies of diplomatic letters, furnished from his post-office in Vienna. 
Their constant practice renders the employees skilful in counterfeiting 
hand-writing ; and it is recorded, on the authority of a retired functionary 
of the post-office of Vienna, that a correspondence in a disguised hand, and 
counterfeited signature, was kept up for fourteen years, from Vienna, with 
some suspected parties in Bohemia, until they fully disclosed their plans, 
and were then seized and condemned for their intended offences. Is it 
worth while to add here, as a counterbalance to our natural detestation of 
such a system what we have none of us foi'gotten — the avowal by the min- 
istry of Sir .James Graham when interrogated in the British House of Com- 
mons for the seizure of Mazzini's letters in the London post-office ; that 
such a seizure was a right of the British crown, a prerogative undisturbed 
by its free constitutions, and rightfully exercised by its ministers in times 
of pubHc danger ? Another engine of the government is its rigorous pass- 
port system. No matter on what portion of the Austrian frontier the 
traveller lands, he is at once met by the inevitable gend'armes, who takes 
from him his passport, which must have been previously vized by an Aus- 
trian Minister, and be in other respects in due form, or the unlucky visitor 
must at once recross the frontier. The passport is immediately transmitted 
to Vienna, to be copied and recorded, and never returned to the traveller 
until he quit the empire. On his arrival at his dwelling or hotel, he is 
handed a series of printed questions, of his name, age, birth-place, parent- 
ao-e, religion, profession, object of visit to the particular city, and to Austria, 
liis probable period of residence, the names of his acquaintances in the 
place, and whether his visit has any political or religious object contrary to 
law, to which questions, answers in writing must be given within twenty- 
four hours under similar penalty of being forced to return ; and when 
these answers are furnished to the police, who are required to send them 
likewise to Vienna to be recorded, the traveller is supplied with a permis 



12 

de sejour, or privilege of abode, for the number of days he names in his 
■written answers, which privilege must be renewed in time for a further 
residence, and on leaving, is ultimately exchanged for his passport, with a 
pe7'J7iis du voyage, or privilege to travel, in which the traveller and his route 
out of the empire are particularly marked out and described. All these 
Vienna records form a reflection of the movement of the empire ; they 
guide the spies who detect all deceptions, and help to throw the strong 
arm of this jealous government around every footstep of the traveller. 
There is but one palliation of this system ; no oaths or fees are exacted from 
the traveller, for the information furnished by him. 

The educational system of Austria is one of the most peculiar features 
of the empire. In common with the police system, it owes its completeness 
of detail to the congress held at Carlsbad in 1819. Whether Prince 
Metteriiicli or the assembled sovereigns were its author, certainly education 
in Austria is made the strongest support of absolutism : the whole popu- 
lation of every rank and class is at the expense of the State, skilfully 
instructed for the support of the throne, and the institutions of the empire ; 
whilst all minds are moulded into tame uniformity and habits of tranquil 
submission and stedfast obedience to the central power. We are accus- 
tomed to think and say that knowledge and civil liberty are inseparable in 
the nature of things, but Austria furnishes a striking example to the con- 
trary. All instruction in the empire is provided solely by the State ; no 
private teaching is allowed, except on special authorization by the govern- 
ment ; all instruction is gratuitous and compulsory ; and every parent 
throughout the empire, prince or peasant, is compelled by law to send 
their children, at a certain age, to the national school of their respective 
parish. The studies, instructors, and every other subject connected with this 
department, is in charge of the Hof-Studien Commission at Vienna, whose 
duty is to furnish ample reports to the sovereign ; while all of its proceed- 
ings down to the minutest details, are brought under the eye, and only 
put in force by decree of the emperor in person. 

It is curious to know that the sleepless vigilance of the central autocrat 
of Vienna, carefully examines every school-book and teacher ; studious 
that the infant minds of the empire may never be planted with seeds of 
civil freedom or heresy. Although the State religion is Catholic, still pro- 
pagandism is sacrificed for the cardinal object of imperial solicitude — to 
make Austrians obedient subjects: and schools are opened by the State for 
every form of religious faith among its people. Under the care of this 
department, the places of instruction are classified, as the Elementary or 
National Schools, Superior Primary, and Repetition Schools, and semina- 
ries for teaching particular trades and useful arts, called Polytechnics and 
Schools of Utihty ; gymnasiums ; academies ; normal schools ; universities, 



13 

of "which there are nine, and the Diplomatic College or Theresanium. The 
last named is the crowning feature : founded by the empress Maria Theresa, 
for the gratuitous education of the children of the nobility, in those accom- 
plishments of spoken languages, history, diplomacy, political economy, 
statistics, and every form of political knowledge requisite to qualify thorn 
for the service of the State in the highest official posts at home and abroad ; 
its students are only members of the nobility who have successfully gradu- 
ated from the universities. Besides these general schools, there are also 
numerous State establishments for the thorough instruction of officers of 
the army and navy in every branch of the service, and colleges for educa- 
tion in each of the Faculties of Theology, Law and Medicine, on the 
uniform system of the department. Instruction is everywhere elaborate 
and thorough ; and although implicit obedience to the emperor and his 
decrees, is taught from infancy, and pervades all their later learning, still, 
with the vast librai'ies, and collections of the empire, and this munificent 
system of education, no country in the world surpasses Austria in thorough 
and universal education. No Austrian of competent intelligence lives who 
cannot read, and has not received a systematic education for his calling in 
life. It is a consummate system capable of immeasurable results of good; 
although in its careful warping by the State, every mental reach for civil 
liberty is checked, and the whole spirit steeped in blind political submis- 
sion, its results on the material welfare of Austria, in every branch of 
application, are incalculably beneficial. Although the government of the 
emperor-king might in our view be considered a strange place to seek for 
exemplars, still the College of Diplomacy, though hke all the rest, 
perverted to the use of absolutism, might be a fruitful lesson for our own 
government. 

No ximerican has mingled much in European society, of the higher 
order, but has felt the decided superiority and observed the mental train- 
ing of those employed in the career of diplomacy : he remarks their facility 
of languages, their intimate knowledge of the institutions and policy of the 
governments and people, to whom they are accredited, and their practised 
tact and sagacity of address and official conduct. If we desire to maintain 
our own European embassies, why should intelligent Americans be fre- 
quently mortified by seeing their high places of public trust and responsi- 
bility occupied by mere political adventurers from the arenas of party at 
home, usually ignorant of any foreign language, and equally uninformed of 
the nature, institutions and policy of the government to which they are 
sent, and deficient in every other solid qualification for a position in the 
accomplished corps diplomatique of Europe. When the merely mihtary 
officers of our government receive a systematic public education, is there 
not a much greater necessity that they who are to make peace and war, 



14 



and administer tbe migbtiest interests of government, both at home and 
abroad, should also be tbus qualified ? A free government and popular 
and frequent elections, instead of being an obstacle, would supply the 
widest field for effort, and tbe keenest stimulus to preparation. I am 
quite satisfied that the advancing intelligence of our country, will ere long 
obtain a higher compensation for some branches of the public service 
abroad, and a more elevated standard of qualification for its duties. 

Another portion of this net-work whereby Austria is enthralle d, is the 
system of Governmental monopolies and restrictions of trade. The products 
of mines and tobacco are exclusively sold by the State; no one is permit- 
ted to exercise his trade or calling in any portion of the empire without first 
obtaining a grant of the freedom to trade in their respective municipality, 
which grants are limited in number, and paid for by a heavy tax on his 
future earnings. 

This privilege to trade is obtained with some diflflculty, but being exclu- 
sive, is highly prized, and forms a strong link of interest between the Go- 
vernment and its subjects. The power and patronage of the wealthiest 
Catholic Hierarchy in the world, is pledged to the State, and the whole 
internal administration of the empire, in its grand extent and smallest de- 
tails, is brought into unity and harmony, by being entrusted to the care of 
respective bureaus at Vienna, whose office is to submit copious and diligent 
digested reports to the Emperor, on every department of the imperial go- 
vernment, whose only motive power is the edict of the Sovereign. The im- 
mense physical resources of the empire are like the minds of the people, 
controlled by the government, which by its active patronage, stimulates to 
earnest industry the educated intelligence of its subjects. Its material pro- 
ducts are for this very reason, small returns for the government outlay, and 
its position with but one sea-port in the south, Trieste, and the mouth of 
the Danube on the east, restricts its foreign commerce. Recent official 
statements show the value of the exports to be in round numbers forty -five 
millions of dollars ; and of imports, sixty millions of dollars, and a sea ton- 
nage of scarce two millions ; whilst the taxes average about two dollars per 
head, and the total revenue of the emjiire from taxation approaches eighty 
millions of dollars, with that ancient blessing of monarchy, the price of its 
glory, a national debt of near four hundred millions of dollars, which may 
have grown still larger by its recent revolutionary and increased military 
expenses and frequent financial embarrassments. No nation except our 
own surpasses them in the construction and conduct of ocean and river 
steamers. Their railroads and bridges, although of recent origin, may M'ell 
compare with similar works throughout the world ; whilst for articles of 
taste and luxury, Vienna may be justly called the Paris of Eastern Europe. 
The River Danube is the great artery of life to the empire ; with its broad 



15 

width of rapid waters, it traverses the entire dominion of Austria, is the 
mutual frontier of its confederate kingdoms, and on the side of Turkey ; 
and with its six mouths, to the Euxine, bears upon its ample bosom the great 
proportion of the commerce of the empire with the east. History, for ages 
past, has been busy with this river, from the innumerable camps and battles 
of the Roman Legions with the natives of Dacia and Pannonia ; the arri- 
val of the turbulent hosts of the First Crusade under Peter the Hermit, 
gathered from all Europe upon the rocky fortress heights of Peterwardein, 
and thence descending the river to the Black Sea, to the attack of By- 
zantium, the great commercial returns of these Crusader irruptions into 
oriental seclusion, bringing up the Danube the whole trade of Asia, 
until the passage of the stormy Cape by the adventurous Portuguese De 
Gama opened the vast ocean as the natural pathway of its commerce. It 
^ was reserved for our age to renew this Danube intercourse, and to employ 
this mighty river, the Mississipj)i of Europe, for a nobler purpose than to 
float timber rafts and turn rude grain mills. Count Sczecheny, a mag- 
nate or one of the highest rank of the nobility of Hungary, eminent for his 
wealth and public virtues, in the year 1830, first introduced the present 
admirably organized and efBcient steam navigation of the Danube. The 
long neglected river, a mere highway for rude rafts of timber, had become 
almost unknown to navigation, and its real difficulties so exaggerated as to 
place its commercial employment by steam vessels beyond the reach of 
imagination. Sczecheny built, at his own expense, a strong steamer of 
light draft, in which he descended the river himself, all the way from Vi- 
enna, and ascertained that the rocks, rapids, currents and other obstacles 
were not so serious as to be invincible to enterprise. A company was at 
once organized by him for removing the obstructions, and for a line of 
steamboats on the route. The enterprize was regarded on all hands with 
enthusiasm, and chiefly in Hungary, at its capital, Pesth. The Austrian Go- 
vernment, and Prince Metternich contributed largely, and became its first 
chief stockholders, and in less than one year from Sczccheny's experiment- 
al voyage, the existing organized line of steamers began to ply regularly 
between Vienna and Constantinople. The descent of about 1800 miles by 
the frequent stoppages for freight and landing, occupies eleven days ; the 
return voyage, in consequence of the very swift and powerful current, usually 
takes fourteen days. 

The steamers are large, averaging from 200 to 300 feet in length, of 
sharp American model, constructed of iron, and are commodious and ele- 
gant in their arrangements and furniture. The engines and hulls are built 
at Pest, by Austrians ; their own mechanics being preferred to the English 
who were first employed. Their speed averages about 12 English miles 
the hour ; a large proportion of the officers are from Lombardy, and are 



16 

accoinplislied men in tlieir profession. The company still remains a private 
association, and when we conti'ast their beautiful, swift, and strong steamers 
with the clumsy crafts that disfigure the inland waters of France or England, 
and the inconvenient ferry boats of the Rhine or the Elbe, the superiority of 
their enter2:)rise is beyond all question. At the start of such an undertak- 
ing, what difficulties must have impended ! — the sleep of ages of the river 
and its wilderness shores was to be broken,strong and dangerous rapids to be 
crossed ; difficult and fluctuating channels to be discovered, and followed ; 
and, still more, what vast expense was required in establishing coal and ma- 
chinery depots for repairs throughout its great length, which then for more 
than one thousand miles of shore beyond Hungary, scarcely contained a 
habitable town. All these difficulties yielded to their energy, and the line 
of numerous steamers has been ever since in complete and successful work- 
ing order. By its great carrying facilities, Vienna has again, inrf»ae-day, ^ttflr 
become a mart for oriental luxuries. Pesth has more than doubled in size, 
and is now the most beautiful city on the Danube, with a population of 
over 100,000 ; and several entirely new cities and villages have arisen on 
its shores. The traveller embarking at Ratisbon, Linz, or Vienna, will pass 
in succession the largest cities in the empire, and the strong fortresses, with 
the whole frontier of Hungary, Transylvania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Walla- 
chia and Servia, and will move forward on a swift, dark, rolling river, vary- 
ing from one to three miles in width, between banks of the most sublime 
and jjicturesque scenery in Europe, and with a strange diversity of inhabi- 
tants and costume, until at Soulinha he emerges on the stormy Euxine, and 
after sto2">ping at Varna, holds on his course past the Symplegades into 
the blue waters of the Bosphorus — that pathway of magnificence — till the 
solemn domes, mosques, towers, minarets, palaces, and gardens of Stam- 
boul rise upon his view, springing out of that beautiful sea, an Aladdin 
creation — a realized enchantment. 

The merited fame of the Count Sczecheny, through this achievement 
and his political history, introduces that much-talked of, but little studied 
or comprehended subject — the history of the recent reforms and revolution 
in Hungary. Another detail on the subject cannot now be expected or 
attempted ; our literature teems with its histories ; but it is right to 
say, in quitting this topic for some others of more immediate relation to the 
general empire, that the smoke of battle and of controversy has not yet 
sufficiently cleared away from this field to unveil clearly the motives of 
many of its chief actors, and to furnish complete and unbiassed fact, as the 
material for impartial history. 

The cordial interest that we naturally feel in the struggles of other na- 
tions for freedom, and the great distance of space and time, education, 
and superior circumstances have often prevented us from duly examining 



17 

the actual facts which lay behind the attractive statements of the revolu- 
tionists of Europe. Our hearts glow with quick sympathy at the first 
report, and we are ready to believe their constant failure to be the effect of 
superior brute force. My own personal observation of the events of 1848> 
which is corroborated by many other eye-witnesses, and much better quali- 
fied judges, is that the cause of the failure of these grand attempts lies in 
the character of the revolutionists themselves. We are at no loss ourselves, 
nor is an intelligent world, to discover the reason of the success of our own 
patriotic struggle. Our forefathers were calm-minded, discreet, upright, 
patriotic and resolute men, who stood every trial of integrity ; who having 
devoted a whole age to steadfast and peaceable remonstrance, never drew 
the sword until the British soldiery brought slaughter and havoc into our 
midst; and then, with Hancock, Adams, Jefferson and the prophetic 
Franklin in their councils appealing to the Great Judge of all the Earth, 
who could turn their weakness into strength, in immortal language, they 
set forth their oppressions and breaches of their common constitutional 
rights, their unavailing life-long remonstrance, the recent advance of ar; 
mies, and called a listening world to witness, that, not for the lust of con- 
quest, ambition and pride of place, but for the defence of their humble 
homes, and invaluable rights, they declared themselves independent, and 
resolved to maintain their freedom with their lives : and who but the 
bigoted and unenlightened masses of the old world do not know how that 
more than Roman Fabius or Cincinnatus, our own AVashington, led the 
feeble army of the thirteen colonies through clouds of disaster and defeat, 
enough to have crushed many Napoleons, to a glorious triumph. In strong 
contrast with all this are most of the recent revolutionary movements on 
the continent of Europe. The discontent excited by the broken faith of 
sovereigns, at the period of the re-organization of Europe, after the battle of 
Waterloo, by the congresses of Vienna, produced the race of the Carbonarii 
who will answer as types of their successors. They were chiefly men of 
the higher order of rank, property or intelligence — scholars many of them 
— men of the closet — not of the world — the cabinet or the camp ; and 
their plans and those of their successors and imitators from that era to 
the present, of the most visionary and Utopian character, are directed 
mainly for the personal aggrandizement of the leaders. The active agents of 
their enterprises have too often been the idle and dissolute multitudes 
hovering in dark corners in the over-peopled capitals, ripe for any deed of 
license under the popular cloak of liberty, whilst the great masses of the 
lower orders of the industrious population, by the policy of their rulers left 
in political darkness, are readily excited to join in any tumultuous rising 
for the destruction and plunder of the wealth and power of the existing 
government. They i-ear the barricade and their dreamy fabrics of demo- 
3 



18 ' 

cratic anarchy, and crown with bloody laurels their artful leaders, who soon 
become in turn their victims — and are immolated on the same altar of fero- 
cious passion with their late enthroned tyrants. The popular fury exhausts 
itself in license ; and slowly discovering that mere destraction and Utopias 
do not give them bread, work, and regular subsistence, yields to the influ- 
ence of self-interest, from the commercial and middle classes, their old 
employers ; returns rapidly to order under the sceptre, and the old system 
of steady absolute government. They find out that they were deceived 
by their leaders : and after this volcanic social eruption has subsided, are 
in no degree more enlightened or advanced in the knowledge of true law- 
abiding constitutional freedom. They cheerfully embrace the old system 
again, to be anew beguiled to resume this cycle of revolutions ; whose con- 
stant failures are as we well know due to their own want of true political 
knowledge, integrity, morality and patriotism. The hearts of the nations 
are beclouded and impure — and until they be redeemed, there is little hope 
for the regeneration of Europe. In these general remarks I cannot be un- 
derstood as making personal comments on individuals : such an inference 
jj deprecate as unjust, and from recent visits to our shores, unnecessary. 

But to resume the more immediate subject of our present interview : . 

The Austrian empire, is traversed in all its grand divisions by rail roads 
which, introduced in 1826, are perhaps some of the best examples for 
strength, durability, finish and splendid accommodations in the world. 
The medium guage is adopted for the tracks : the carriages are superb 
improvements of the American model ; locomotives, cars, and road, now 
constructed by themselves, are strongly built, and well managed, and their 
speed, though not equal to that usual in England, surpasses our own ; while 
their stations and depots are rarely excelled for elegance and completeness. 
By its railways the empire is linked with north and west Europe at Berlin, 
and Dresden ; with Russia at Warsaw ; with the Mediterranean shore at 
Trieste ; and when the line from Donauworth shall be completed the wa- 
ters of the Rhine and Danube will be united. These railroads are or were 
at the outset, (as some companies have since sold to the government,) 
private associations supported by large stock subscriptions, j^rivate and 
public. 

Time and statistical details are both inadequate properly to describe its 
grand mihtary roads, its numerous suspension bridges, and other great pub- 
lic works, which by their elegance and utility adorn the empire. Nor can 
we here speak of the vast libraries of Vienna, Prague, and Milan ; its gal- 
leries, palaces, the sublime and beautiful natural scenery and the historic 
memories of its soil. We should be, however, happy to dwell awhile at 
Vienna — that imperial capital — a spider-web of tortuous streets spun from 
the Cathedral Square of St. Stephen — with its stern double walls, moats 



19 

and drawbridge, green belt of glacis, and surrounding circle of palatial 
suburbs : of oft-beleagured orient-looking Prague — spanning the swift dark 
Moldau with its many stone and wire bridges — and crowding its medise- 
val streets and towers under the gloomy heights of the Hradschin — of 
modern level white-walled and beautiful Pesth — magnificent Milan and 
Venice, had they not all been too often depicted, viewed and described for 
us to venture the essay. Our concern this evening, has been with more 
general matters of the policy of the empire. If our sketch of the elaborate 
educational system be correct, we shall be at no loss to infer the national char- 
acteristics of the Austrians of every nation : that from infancy their minds, 
hearts and bodies, are moulded into political subjection to their hereditary 
rulers ; that politics, as we understand the term, do not exist in the empire, 
and that discussion is disturbance of order — Revolution : but though that 
subject be banished, still the Austrian mind is but thrown back on other 
fields of activity ; in the civil and military service of the government, and 
every form of private and associated industry, to whose results we have 
made a passing allusion. But the physical constitution of the Austrian, 
besides presenting a congress of various nations, has its German element 
relieved by the warm blood of the south, and thus while he is a pattern of 
faithful industry during his hours of labor, he turns naturally and gaily to 
music and the dance as his diversion. 

It is not necessary here to speak of the musical renown of Vienna ; and 
the true love and practice of the art, pervading all ranks and education of 
Austrians from childhood. The music of the orchestras of Strauss and 
Gungl playing every afternoon in the public gardens and cafes of Vienna, 
and the compositions of De Meyer and Liszt, and many others, are of uni- 
versal fame. The superb military bards of the palace are constantly heard 
in the Volks Garten, the beautiful promenade back of the palace conferred 
upon the public by Kaiser Francis. This classic and refined music is ofi'ered 
for the gratuitous enjoyment of all, and on a fine evening, Vienna and the 
other capitals resound with exquisite music and the graceful and happy 
dance, which is re-echoed from the mountains of Tyrol, the banks of the 
Elbe and Danube, through distant Galicia and from the gondoliers of 
Venice. 

The happy Austrian, undisturbed by the clamors of politicians, and 
theories of partisans, cheerfully resigns the whole care of government to 
hereditary chiefs, and seeks his own interests and amusements. Without 
the fickleness of Frenchmen, or their sanguinary spirit, they resemble in 
the political result of governmental changes, in vivacity, in their eager 
pursuit of fashion, display and amusement. They are contented in their 
selfishness, if you will, but still the traveller can nowhere out of Paris, find 
a gayer and more brilliant capital than Vienna, or Milan, and in no conti- 



20 

nental kingdom, see the ordinary comforts or enjoyments of life more gen- 
erally diffused. 

Mendicity is prohibited, and never seen in Austria : the state takes care 
of the poor, employing the able-bodied in the army and the pubhc works, 
and providing ample hospitals for the imbecile and the invalid. 

The state likewise provides for the amusement of its subjects ; most of 
the Italian opera singers of the world come under the care, instruction and 
inspection of the imperial director at La Scala, Milan, who with his assist- 
ants, subject opera houses and companies, are chiefly supported from the 
imperial treasury. All recognised Italian opera singers become members 
of this Milan academy, and are then allowed to sing on the classic stage 
of La Scala, annually report their professional engagements, and on com- 
pliance with its rules, become entitled to its retiring pension. The perfor- 
mances of the most accomplished musicians in the most magnificent thea- 
tres, are thus brought within the humblest pecuniary means. The military 
servants of the empire receiving but small pay, the government provides 
for them a much I'educed price of admission to amusements, and also sepa- 
rate and cheaper markets, cafes and shops. The court of Vienna, although 
the most magnificent in display of the continent, is yet the most remarka- 
bly accessible. Our own president in his republican simplicity scarcely, in 
this respect, surpasses the Austrian emperor. From the time of the Em- 
peror Joseph, of whom some have said he was a better mechanic than 
sovereign, it has been the custom of the emperors, on every Wednesday, 
without ceremonious presentation, to receive all his subjects who have 
business personally with the sovereign. The only formalities observed are 
requiring the name and business, to be previously mentioned through a 
minister, and compliance Avith certain easy prescribed hours of audience; 
and nothing is more frequent at Vienna than to see the emperor in a plain 
uniform, alone, or attended by a single aid-de-caijfip, walking the streets or 
ramparts. All vivats on such occasions are prohibited : the soldiery will 
present arms as to any other officer, and whoever raises his hat to the 
sovereign, will be sure to have his salutation courteously returned. The 
people love him, strange as we may think, as their benevolent father, and 
he needs no body guard, or cumbrous ceremony, for his protection or their 
respect — a dignified security, in striking contrast with the armed cavalcades 
that watch around the movements of French emperors, British queens or 
European sovereigns. 

The limits of these remarks are already too extended to allow of further 
details which might encroach on the province of guide books. Our pur- 
pose is fulfilled, if we shall have shown enough to justify cur views at the 
outset, that although its system of government is wholly opposed to con- 
stitutional freedom, still few despotisms in Europe have more contented 
and industrious subjects, and are more open to the wishes and more con- 
ducive to the material well being of its people. 



'.■-V^'Sk^Vx. 



:^^i:m: 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 375 986 3 



^m^U 



\l^A 





^'•'C^*^^ 




J^f'" 



— < -pi"*^ 



C^f^^^ 



•m 






■-'0^^'- 



